New York City, November 18, 2012

★★★ Blue shaded into white shading into blue, with no clear dividing line. A noise-canceling wind chilled the ears and muffled the sounds, save for the piercing high tones of brakes. One pedestrian after another carried jacketed Starbucks cups — one woman had a whole tray full, a late Sunday-afternoon hot-beverage run. A false sun shone up Broadway, reflecting from somewhere behind the CNN sign. At sunset, the white patches separated themselves from the rest of the sky — purple in the north and east; pink slashes receding into the southwestern distance.